Topics

Books

Introduction

On this page we review the rules for citing books. These guidelines follow the Chicago Manual of Style (17th ed.). The examples provided illustrate the rules for both footnotes and final citations (in your bibliography).

The Basics

Here’s the basic format for citing books in your bibliography:

If the author’s name is unknown, just start with the title.

When you cite the same source in a footnote, it will look a little different:

For any work that has four or more authors (or editors), use the abbreviation et al. after the first name in your footnote (e.g., 1. Bob Hermite et al., Growing Hasselberries). By contrast, in your bibliography et al. should be used only for works with more than ten authors. In such cases you can cite the first six or seven and then add the abbreviation.

Editor, Translator, Compiler

If the book has an editor, translator, or compiler (instead of an author), cite it as follows:

When an editor, translator, or compiler is listed after the title, the plural form of the abbreviation is trans., or comp.

If you’re listing multiple roles, retain the same order as on the original title page.

Try to simplify elaborate phrases such as “Translated and introduced by” or “Edited and annotated by” to shorter forms such as “Translated by” or Edited by”

Other Contributors

If a book contains another contribution that you find significant, you can mention it in your footnotes or bibliography. Here are just a couple of bibliographic examples. There are many more ways to describe the specific contribution:

Johnson, Bartholomew. Sky High: The Evolution of the Hook Shot. With a foreword by Stilt Chamberlain. Chicago: Jabbar Publications, 2017.

Note that ghost writers are usually introduced by a With (e.g., With Bob Johnson).

Chapter of a Book

If you want to highlight a specific chapter or section of someone’s book, you can do that! Do note that when you cite the page references in your footnotes, you have some choice: you can refer to a specific page, the chapter’s page range, or leave out the page range altogether:

If the volume has an author and an editor, add the number of volumes after the editor’s name (assuming the author is cited first). If the volumes are published over a number of years, provide the first and last year of publication (e.g., 2005-2011).

To cite a specific volume in a footnote, identify the volume number and add the title (if there is one):

Reference Work

When you cite a reference work such as a dictionary or encyclopedia, you can either supply a page reference or use the abbreviation s.v (subverbo; the plural is s.vv.), which is Latin for under the word. This refers to the term or phrase that has been defined or explained in your source:

Since many e-books don’t have stable page numbers, you may often be better off citing chapter or section numbers. In fact, if you’re not sure that the electronic page numbers correspond to actual page numbers in a print version, then avoid using them in your citations.

In rare cases you may want to replace the e-reader with the format of the book (e.g., PDF) along with the program used to read it (e.g., Adobe Acrobat Reader):

If you don’t think your reader will be able to access the text by using your link, then instead provide the database title (e.g., JSTOR).

Bible

Quotations from the Bible are cited either in footnotes or in parentheses in the text. There’s no need to cite the Bible in your bibliography.

Traditionally, Bible books are abbreviated (except for short titles) and chapter and verse are separated by a colon:

Matt. 3:2

Mark 7:13

Alternatively, you can use shorter forms that are not followed by a period:

Mt 20:1

Mk 15:4

However, in the actual text of your essay you’ll usually want to spell out the full title:

Paul argues in 1 Corinthians 13 that charity is the greatest virtue.

Finally, at least for the first time you cite from the Bible you should indicate which version you have used:

2 Cor. 3:4 (New International Version)

If after that you wish to specify the version, you can use an abbreviation (e.g., NIV).

Dissertation

For dissertations, place the title between quotation marks and provide details on the type of thesis (master’s thesis, PhD dissertation, etc.) as well as the institution where it was written. You can end your entry with either a URL or with the database and identification number–both often followed by a page reference: